IOWA CITY, Iowa — Sophomore Joe Wieskamp’s career-high propelled the 17th-ranked University of Iowa men’s basketball team to a season-high point total in a 96-72 victory over Nebraska on Saturday night on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Wieskamp scored 20 of his career-best 30 points in the second half as Iowa turned an 11-point advantage into a rout. The Hawkeyes led by as many as 38 points over the final 20 minutes.
Wieskamp got going early, scoring the first seven Iowa points in the second half, as the Hawkeyes opened up a 48-32 lead. He took over the game midway through, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers before converting an old-fashioned three-point play to stretch the lead to 69-40 lead.
“I got into a little rhythm, people were finding me at the right time,” said Wieskamp. “I was reading when they were flying at me for my shot and I was able to take it to them and finish around the rim.”
He finished 10-of-15 from the field and made a pair of 3-point field goals and went 8-for-8 from the free throw line to tally his fifth 20-plus point game this season. Wieskamp also had seven rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes.
Junior Luka Garza joined Wieskamp in double figures, notching his ninth straight 20-point game. He scored 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds.
Iowa shot 48.6 percent and made 11 3-pointers — from six different players — in the game. The Hawkeyes assisted on 20 of their 34 field goals and out-rebounded Nebraska, 42-36. The Huskers shot 42.4 percent, but were just 5-of-25 from 3-point range.
The Hawkeyes started the game hot, making eight of their first 11 shots to storm out to a 20-5 lead less than five minutes in. Iowa made four 3-pointers during the stretch — the same figure it made in 40 minutes in the road loss in Lincoln.
Iowa endured an eight-minute scoring drought midway through the half, allowing Nebraska to close the gap to 27-23 at the 4:11 mark. The Hawkeyes took a 41-30 lead into the break courtesy of a Fredrick 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Quoting Head Coach Fran McCaffery
“We have to be better than we played, and we did. We had to play better from the start, that was critical. We had a terrible start the other night and it was tremendous today with the effort and execution defensively. Our efficiency and ball movement on offense was as good as it has been all season.”
Ash for 3
Redshirt sophomore Austin Ash got the must run in his collegiate career and he made the most of it. The guard made his first two 3-point attempts and finished with a career-high eight points in nine minutes.
Of Note…
- Iowa’s 96 points scored today are the most points scored by the team this season and the most against Nebraska in the 34-game series history.
- The 24-point victory is Iowa’s third largest margin of victory over Nebraska in the 34-game series.
- No. 17 Iowa improved to 12-1 at home, winning its last 11 consecutive games inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
- The nationally-ranked Hawkeyes have won seven of its last nine contests.
- Iowa has beaten Nebraska 12 of the last 13 times in Iowa City.
- Big Ten leading scorer Luka Garza finished today’s contest with 22 points. Garza has now tallied 20+ in nine straight Big Ten games, the longest streak by a Hawkeye in 49 years. The All-America candidate has netted 20 points or more 18 times this season. Garza’s point total from today moved him past Bruce King and Ed Horton for 17th on Iowa’s all-time scoring chart.
- Carver-Hawkeye Arena was filled to capacity today for the second straight game (15,056).
Up Next
Iowa returns to action Thursday in its only regular season game against Indiana. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. (CT) at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana.
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